Trump news: House to vote on national emergency resolution as new attack launched on abortion access

The current US ambassador to Canada, Kelly Craft, is emerging as the front-runner to be the next US ambassador to the United Nations. 

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell is backing Ms Craft for the post and she is also understood to have the support of secretary of state Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton.

They say President Donald Trump has been advised that Ms Craft's confirmation would be the smoothest of the three candidates he is considering to fill the job last held by Nikki Haley. 

Ms Craft, a Kentucky native, was a member of the US delegation to the UN General Assembly under President George W Bush's administration.

She is also friends with McConnell's wife, transportation secretary Elaine Chao, and thanked Ms Chao for her "longtime friendship and support" at her swearing-in as ambassador. 

As US ambassador to Canada, she played a role in facilitating the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, a revamp of the North American Free Trade Agreement. 

President Trump's first pick to replace Nikki Haley - who fell out repeatedly with Mr Pompeo's predecessor, Texas oil man Rex Tillerson - State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, withdrew over the weekend. 

He is also considering US ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell - whose LGBT+ rights campaign he entirely forgot about yesterday - and former US Senate candidate John James of Michigan for the post. 

Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe has had quite a week, dropping bombshell revelations about what went on inside the FBI in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey in May 2017 and drawing the ire of President Trump on the promotional trail for his new book, The Threat: How The FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump.

His attorney Michael Bromwich reminds us that the criminal investigation into whether or not Mr McCabe made false statements during an internal probe into a news media disclosure remains open.

"We've had dealings with the US attorney's office" in Washington that has been handling the case, said Mr Bromwich, who accompanied Mr McCabe to a wide-ranging interview session with reporters. "We are in continuing communication with them." 

The Justice Department inspector-general last year referred for investigation and possible prosecution allegations that McCabe lied under oath when questioned about the source of information in a 2016 Wall Street Journal story about an FBI inquiry into the Clinton Foundation.

Andrew McCabe has acknowledged he permitted subordinates to speak to the reporter to correct what he said was a false narrative, but he has denied that he lied to investigators. 

He has called his March 2018 firing, which arose from the false-statement allegations, politically motivated. Mr Bromwich said on Thursday that Mr McCabe will soon sue the Justice Department over the matter. 

One of the running themes of the president's address for African-American History Month at the White House last night was his glossing over of racial division and his patronising insistence on the "progress" made by the black community.

His praise for the eloquence of the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr ended with this peach of an understatement: "He made us all look maybe not quite as good."

We've hardly mentioned the Russia investigation so far this morning.

The new name in the frame is David Geovanis, a US businessman based in Moscow who is reportedly of interest to the Senate Intelligence Committee over his role in facilitating meetings between the Trump Organisation and the likes of oligarch Oleg Deripaska, also a friend of ex-campaign manager Paul Manafort.

Here's Chris Riotta.

Speaking of the president's past life as a real estate magnate, his Midas touch for property appears to have deserted him.

Another Manhattan condominium is removing its "Trump Place" sign to conceal its association with the president.

Buildings with his name on now routinely sell for below market value, according to research by CityRealty.

Here's Jay Caruso for Indy Voices on a make-or-break moment for the Republican Party and it relationship with Donald Trump.

As the Democrats prepare their “resolution of disapproval”, here’s where the power of Congress lies in relation to that of the Oval Office.

Under the National Emergencies Act of 1976, Congress is free to attempt to repeal an emergency status declaration by the president. In the current moment, Democrats hold a 235-197 majority in the House thanks to the Midterm election results so should easily see Joaquin Castro’s motion passed.

In the Senate, where the Republicans hold sway, Mitch McConnell and friends would not be allowed to block it from reaching the floor, as they would with most other kinds of legislation.

This is because the resolution is “privileged”, meaning it would not be subject to a filibuster and require 60 votes to move forward. Instead, it would require just 51 votes to pass. If all 47 Democrats were to support the measure, they would need only four Republicans to defect and pass it.

Given the extent of Republican opposition to Donald Trump’s latest manoeuvre – with many disconcerted by the precedent it sets – this is perfectly possible.

“An awful lot of us are concerned about this,” said Republican senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin on NBC’s Meet the Press last Sunday, alluding specifically to the expansion of executive power.

Florida’s Marco Rubio, a former presidential race rival of Mr Trump, told reporters: “I think it's a bad idea because usually emergency declarations are for situations in which Congress doesn't have time to organize itself to vote on it. The Congress just had a vote on this and it just expressed itself.”

President Trump may well still veto the resolution, even if it passed both Houses. But the strength of the opposition to his declaration would nevertheless send a powerful message to the electorate.

This doesn't even bear thinking about.

Up to a third of the $6.7bn (£5.2bn) in Pentagon funds Donald Trump has identified to spend on a US-Mexico border wall has already been spent, officials have revealed. 

So what actually is the 'resolution of disapproval' Democrats are planning to file today? 

The resolution aims to block President Trump's national emergency declaration, that according to him would free up billions in federal funding for his border wall. Congress has repeatedly refused to approve the $8bn for the wall, and Trump's declaration has faced legal challenges from 16 states. 

This 'resolution of disapproval', however, would be the first congressional challenge to Trump's emergency declaration.